City Might Split Public Works Department To Put Focus On Streets

September 17, 1999|By Jeff Coen, Tribune Staff Writer.

Anyone who has lived in Naperville longer than a few years knows that the city's rapid growth and the accompanying traffic congestion have changed the face of a town once known as a hub for area farmers.

Now Naperville's suburban sprawl also might change the face of the municipal government charged with planning the city's street system and controlling the flow of vehicles.

Next week, the City Council might consider splitting the city's Department of Public Works in two. One department would continue traditional jobs such as plowing snow and managing storm water, and a new department of transportation and engineering would concentrate on issues that relate directly to Naperville's streets.

The onetime river hamlet has 3,400 controlled street intersections, and the city's roadways have enough miles of lanes to form a strip of asphalt from Naperville to Dallas.

"There's no question that one of the biggest concerns of the residents of this town is transportation," said David Barber, Naperville's public works director, who would head the new department.

Naperville staff members said the switch would bring Naperville in line with the way many of Chicago's larger suburbs handle traffic planning.

The new organization would look at small projects, such as constructing traffic circles in individual neighborhoods, Barber said, and the long-range plans that can have an impact on arterial roads.

"The major impetus for this change was that the existing department incorporated too many varying focuses and disciplines," Naperville Management Analyst Peggy Halik wrote in a staff memo on the topic to the City Council. "The creation of two departments where there was one would allow each department to focus more precisely on the organizational goals, addressing more priorities than could have been addressed under one department."

According to Halik, the Department of Transportation and Engineering would take the lead on planning and day-to-day operations, and establish a role for the city "in the local, regional, state and federal arenas" that relate to transportation.

The reorganized public works organization would stick to the traditional services offered by such a city department, including caring for public buildings, trimming trees and providing operations and maintenance functions.

Barber said his staff has been working on the proposal since April and that the moves would be made with existing employees. According to the document prepared by Halik, the city established a transition team of workers and managers that looked at how current services could be realigned under new headings.

Halik said that public works staff would continue to handle things like street lighting, the patching of potholes and mosquito abatement. The new department would become a liaison to organizations in the central business district; handle engineering, planning and permitting for new developments as they relate to transportation; and control the city's master transportation plan.

"This really streamlines the departments and helps to define priorities," said Halik, who added that the decision came as part of an ongoing evaluation of city government.